Facebook Acquires Ozlo to Boost its Conversational AI Efforts
Facebook has acquired conversational AI startup Ozlo to boost its AI efforts. Ozlo launched with a consumer-facing app back in October 2016 and was founded by Charles Jolley, former Head of Platform for Android at Facebook. The Ozlo team is expected to join Facebook to work on natural language processing challenges. Ozlo offered a suite of APIs, including a “Knowledge Layer,” “Intent API,” and “Converse API.” The company focused on developing a knowledge graph to provide users with accurate and relevant information. In the wake of the acquisition, the original consumer bot and the APIs have been discontinued, and the Ozlo team is now part of Facebook. In a statement, Facebook expressed its excitement to welcome the Ozlo team and leverage their expertise to create compelling experiences within Messenger powered by AI and machine learning. While it remains unclear what the Ozlo team will work on at Facebook, its knowledge graph could serve as a foundation for Facebook M.
